Thursday, June 03, 2010

Donut Day

Don and I spent another beautiful morning having coffee on the patio and enjoying the wonderfully cool 70+ degree temps.  These cool mornings will soon cease, however, as the weatherman is predicting the triple digit temps for the next few days.  When it heats up that much, it doesn’t always cool down at night.  The moral of the story is to enjoy them while we have them!

Today was “Coffee and Donuts” at the club house at 8:30.  It’s always fun to join these events and chat with the other folks who stay here year round.  blog 006I plunked the plate of leftovers in front of Diane so she would pose for a photo.  Thanks, Diane, for organizing the event!  These activities are always a pleasure.

blog 005After “breakfast", we stopped at the office to say hello to the staff at the front desk.  Today is Valerie’s birthday.  Happy Birthday, Valerie!

blog 008On the way home, we saw some heavy duty digging on the front nine of the golf course.  They’re extending the drain from the swimming pool so the water will drain into a dry well instead of forming a swampy area on the golf course.  There’s always lots of work to keep our resort beautiful.  When you all come back this fall, you’ll never detect that this kind of work was done.  That’s why I like doing this blog cause it keeps you informed of activity while you’re away.

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blog 003  I’m “borrowing” this next photo from Mary William’s website because it’s so interesting to see how they manage to trim all the oleanders along the wall of the park.  Mary and Tom keep a great website of their travels and post a lot of fun stuff while they stay here during winter. 

2010-05-18-trimming-oleanders-305x231The wall is at least 8 feet high and the landscaper just walks along with a long hedge trimmer.

I’ve also taken a couple photos of some palm trees/plants in the park as I find them fascinating when they flower in spring and summer.   Thought it might be interesting for you “snowbirds” who don’t get to see the floral activity.

 housewatch 004These pods seem to rapidly grow near the top of the plant.  Then they dry up and burst open.  These two photos show all three stages as the pod at the lower right is just drying and opening. housewatch 002

I tried to tip the open bloom for a better view but what you can see is the HUGE amount of pollen it produces.  My hand was instantly covered with a thick yellow coating of pollen.  No wonder palms love windy days as that’s how they pollinate (along with the help of the bees and probably doves too).  (Ahhh….choo!!!)

001 The different palms have different blooms.  I have no idea of names or varieties….and I don’t care to study them….I just enjoy them.  Here are some more photos from around the park.

housewatch 003housewatch 008This tree is loaded with some kind of fruit…are they dates or figs??  housewatch 006 The drive north on Cole Circle is gorgeous with all the bushes and trees in bloom and mountains in the distance.

To most of us, this is a common sight but there are many readers of this blog that haven’t been here before or who will be joining us for the first time in the upcoming season so I post these here for their enjoyment …… and because I have fun doing it. 

housewatch 009Ya’all have a great day!